Erban!

"How could it be those two?!"

Chen Jichuan's thoughts raced as he recognized the origins of the two hulking men.

He silently cried out that things were bad.

"Hide a little longer?"

Chen Jichuan hesitated for a moment.

If he logged off directly, he could certainly avoid these two. But if he did that, the foothold he had painstakingly established in Dai County would be gone. By the time he returned, three to five months—or even one or two years—might have passed.

When that time came, whether to leave or stay would become another problem.

"Unless—"

Chen Jichuan thought of the sick tiger in the cave at Fierce Tiger Ravine on Golden Wind Mountain.

He began calculating in his heart.

Outside the door.

"Doctor Chen!"

"Is Doctor Chen home?"

The knocking did not stop.

It grew increasingly urgent.

"Then it's settled!"

Chen Jichuan no longer hesitated.

At worst, he would die.

When the head fell off, it was only a scar the size of a bowl.

What was there to fear?!

Thud, thud, thud!

In two or three strides, he put the feng shui map in his arms away inside the house and hid it.

Unhurried and composed.

Only then did he walk into the courtyard and open the gate. "Who is it, coming by so late at night?"

When he opened the door.

He saw two burly men standing outside.

Name: Ban Zhua (Tiger)

Age: 49

Level: 7

Talents: Human Transformation; Evil-Exorcising Technique

Arts: Tiger-Subduing Fist (Seventh Layer); Grand Yin Body-Refining Method (Seventh Layer)

...

Name: Ban Ya (Tiger)

Age: 49

Level: 7

Talents: Human Transformation; Ghost-Devouring Technique

Arts: Tiger-Subduing Fist (Seventh Layer); Grand Yin Body-Refining Method (Seventh Layer)

...

One was called Ban Zhua.

The other was called Ban Ya.

They were no ordinary people.

They were two tiger demons.

Nor were they tiger demons from elsewhere. They were precisely the two tiger demons on Golden Wind Mountain whom Chen Jichuan had failed to see earlier with Far-Sight.

Ban Zhua and Ban Ya looked eighty or ninety percent alike; it was difficult to tell them apart with the naked eye alone.

But Ban Zhua had a mole at the end of his left eyebrow, while Ban Ya had one at the end of his right eyebrow. Anyone familiar with them could recognize them easily.

"Doctor Chen."

"Our old mother is gravely ill. We have disturbed you in the middle of the night; please do not blame us, Doctor Chen."

Ban Zhua was steady and courteous. Seeing Chen Jichuan open the door, joy appeared on his face, yet the first thing he did was apologize.

"A healer has a compassionate heart."

"It's no matter."

Hearing this, Chen Jichuan relaxed slightly. As long as they aren't here to make trouble.

Then he put on a show, waving his hand before looking at the two brothers and saying gravely, "Treating the illness comes first. Take me there quickly."

With this manner.

He did his best to conceal that he knew Erban's true identities.

"Thank you, Doctor Chen!"

Ban Zhua was overjoyed.

He had inquired about him. The Doctor Chen before him was a famed physician who had risen to prominence in Dai County over the past few months. Whether the illness was grave or minor, whenever Doctor Chen took action, even if the effect was not immediate and the medicine did not cure the disease at once, there was usually considerable improvement, and he had never failed.

Their old mother was seriously ill.

Ordinary quacks only harmed people. Finding Doctor Chen was far more reliable.

The two brothers had no time for pleasantries.

One on the left and one on the right, they escorted Chen Jichuan.

Before long, they arrived at the eastern city gate.

"The city gate?"

Though Chen Jichuan knew full well, he deliberately asked, frowning. "The patient is outside the city?"

"Things in the city are expensive. We can't afford to live there."

Ban Zhua smiled apologetically at Chen Jichuan. "The gates are closed at night. Doctor Chen, climb onto my younger brother Ban Ya's back, and we'll scale the wall."

"Scale it?"

"It's so high—"

Chen Jichuan looked like someone who had never seen the world. Staring at the thirty-foot-high wall before him, he opened his mouth wide.

"Hehe."

"Doctor Chen, don't worry. Come on up."

Ban Ya grinned.

He walked up to Chen Jichuan and patted his back.

Chen Jichuan glanced at Ban Zhua and saw the latter smiling as he urged him to rest easy. Gritting his teeth, he climbed onto Ban Ya's back.

"Second."

"Be steady."

Ban Zhua gave a reminder.

Ban Ya agreed. He exerted force with his feet and leaped fiercely upward. In a few swift bounds, he scrambled up the thirty-foot city wall. Without pausing for even a moment, he took several quick steps and leaped down again.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The wind howled.

After Ban Ya carried Chen Jichuan out of the city, he never put him down again. Ban Ya was immensely strong; carrying more than a hundred catties on his back was nothing to him. Ban Zhua followed at the side, keeping watch.

The two tigers ran swiftly.

Golden Wind Mountain lay thirty li from the county seat in a straight line, and forty or fifty li by road at least. But Erban crossed mountains when they met mountains and waded through water when they met water. In just over a quarter of an hour, they had reached Golden Wind Mountain.

"Sorry to trouble you, Doctor Chen."

Ban Ya carried Chen Jichuan all the way into the cave by the mountain stream before finally setting him down.

Chen Jichuan's feet touched solid ground as he entered the cave.

The sick tiger he had seen before was gone. In its place sat an old woman, her face deathly pale and her eyes unfocused. Chen Jichuan examined her with Insight Art—

Name: Ban Feifei (Tiger)

Age: 98

Level: 7

Talents: Human Transformation; Great Strength

Arts: Tiger-Subduing Fist (Seventh Layer); Grand Yin Body-Refining Method (Seventh Layer)

...

An ordinary tiger generally lived twenty to twenty-five years.

This Ban Feifei had actually lived to ninety-eight. She truly deserved to be called a tiger demon. Yet she now looked pale and listless, as though her life was nearing its end.

"Has she reached the end of her lifespan?"

Chen Jichuan felt doubtful.

Logically speaking.

A Level Seven expert was equivalent to the Innate Realm of internal power, or the Transformative Force Realm of the Chen Sect. A martial artist who reached this realm could live to one hundred twenty or one hundred thirty years old. As a tiger demon, Ban Feifei possessed fuller vitality and a stronger soul, so she ought to have lived even longer.

How had she ended up like this?

"Doctor Chen."

"How is my mother?"

Seeing that Chen Jichuan remained silent, Ban Zhua could not help asking.

"Let me take a look first."

Chen Jichuan naturally did not dare voice his innermost thoughts. He placed his hand on Ban Feifei's pulse, though in truth he was using Insight Art to inspect her closely.

With this look.

He truly discovered something.

Within the old woman's body, wisps of aura were tangled together like maggots clinging to bone, constantly feeding on the essence of her vitality and blood. At times, they transformed into hideous shapes, opening huge mouths to gnaw at something unknown.

"This is—"

"Possession by a ghost?"

Chen Jichuan's heart lurched.

He had not expected ghosts to be able to possess not only humans, but tiger demons as well. He just did not know whether this was a ghost born naturally from heaven and earth, or whether someone was controlling it from behind the scenes.

"Ban Zhua has Evil-Exorcising Technique."

"Ban Ya has Ghost-Devouring Technique."

"By rights, fiends, demons, and ghosts should not have been able to get near them."

Chen Jichuan pondered inwardly, thinking of a possibility.

"How is she?"

Seeing that Chen Jichuan still had not spoken, Ban Ya could not help asking as well.

"Don't rush me."

Chen Jichuan suppressed his thoughts. He had the old woman stick out her tongue, examined the whites of her eyes, and asked several questions.

Observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking.

After completing the process.

Chen Jichuan finally took out paper and brush from his medicine chest. As he wrote the prescription, he said, "Liver deficiency has dimmed her vision. Her blindness is caused by the liver. I'll prescribe a formula for you. After buying the medicine, mix it evenly, decoct it, strain out the liquid, and apply it to her eyes frequently. There should be obvious improvement within half a month. She has also been afflicted by cold dampness, suffering joint pain that prevents her from bending or stretching. Apart from taking medicine, this place beside the stream is far too damp, and you can no longer live in this cave. Also, massage and circulate her blood and qi regularly from now on, lest stagnant qi and blood damage her sinews and bones."

He was neither a Daoist priest.

Nor was he a monk.

He had no way to deal with ghosts harming people, so he could only prescribe some medicine to ease the symptoms a little. Besides, he did not yet know whether these three tiger monsters ate people. Perhaps they were three scourges, and saving them would instead be a sin.

He was not a doctor from his previous life, who had to save both good people and bad people alike. Otherwise, he would be accused of treating human lives like grass and reeds and lacking medical ethics, condemned by people standing on the moral high ground, and perhaps even punished by regulations and laws.

In Great Liang.

Chen Jichuan had no need to care about such things. He followed his heart in all things.

After writing the prescription and finishing his medical instructions.

Chen Jichuan finally rose to his feet.

At the side.

Ban Zhua took out an ingot of patterned silver and said to Chen Jichuan, "My mother's health will need Doctor Chen's care from now on. The consultation fee is no problem."

"No problem."

"Take the medicine first. If anything unusual happens, come find me in the city at any time."

Chen Jichuan accepted all comers.

After exchanging a few polite words.

Ban Feifei had Ban Ya send Chen Jichuan back to the county seat.

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There will be another chapter at ten later. Those who cannot wait can read it tomorrow morning.

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